Google Buys Shipping Service BufferBox to Buoy E-Commerce

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., owner of the world’s
most popular search engine, has acquired BufferBox Inc., a
service for delivering e-commerce goods to physical kiosks.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. BufferBox, founded in
Waterloo, Ontario, enables online shoppers to pick up parcels at
grocery and convenience stores at any time in the Toronto area,
according to its website.

“We want to remove as much friction as possible from the
shopping experience, while helping consumers save time and
money, and we think the BufferBox team has a lot of great ideas
around how to do that,” Mountain View, California-based Google
said in an e-mailed statement without elaborating further.

Google is stepping up efforts in e-commerce after
announcing earlier this year it would transition its product-search feature to a paid commercial model in the U.S., requiring
retailers to purchase space on its new Google Shopping service.
Earlier this month it unveiled new features for the service,
including enhanced images of some toys and a new way to compile
shopping lists.

Google rose less than 1 percent to $698.37 at the close in
New York. The shares have gained 8.1 percent this year.

For BufferBox, it will be “business as usual” for its
existing customers, the company said in a blog.

The sale comes after Aditya Bali, co-founder of BufferBox,
said in August he was in talks to raise money from top-tier
venture capital firms. While the company didn’t really need the
money, the funding could help it “go that much faster,” he
said at the time.

“As online shopping becomes a bigger part of how you buy
products, we look forward to playing a part in bringing that
experience to the next level,” the company said in the blog.